My two daughters

Gwendolyn looks almost exactly like Christina did at that age. They have the same lips, the same nose, the same skin tone, the same eye and hair color. Gwen has a birth mark on her right eye lid (which I'm told will go away), so that is different, plus her hair was thicker at birth than Christina's was (even though she was five weeks early - go figure!). So many faces that Gwen makes or movements that she does makes me feel like I have infant Christina all over again. Gwen just reminds me so much of her big sister.

Even though she looks just like her big sister though, she has been a completely different baby. Many of the differences stem from the fact that Christina was tongue-tied and Gwendolyn was not. Since CC was not getting enough milk, she was always hungry and therefore spent much of her early life trying to eat and then passing out from all of the hard work (but she would only sleep in someone's arms). Since I was breastfeeding around the clock and then I would hold Christina while she slept, I pretty much always had my hands full. Gwen does not have a problem getting enough milk, so she breastfeeds every 2-3 hours. When she isn't eating, she is sleeping. She does a lot of sleeping in fact and basically doesn't care where it takes place. As long as she is swaddled, she sleeps pretty well anywhere. This is a huge difference between the two babies.

You could say that Christina was a very high maintenance baby and Gwen is a very laid back baby, but again I think it all stemmed from the tongue-tie issue. I'm just relieved that the order was hard baby first, easy baby second, because currently Christina now, as a toddler, is a lot of work. If I had a difficult baby, I don't know how I would get through the day. With Gwen being so easy going, the hardest part of my day is keeping Christina from accidentally hurting Gwen. She loves her so much that she tries climbing all over me while I'm nursing her little sister. CC is always giving kisses and touching Gwen. She wants to hold her all of the time.

I don't remember if this was the case with Christina, it could be different since Gwen is a premie, but I've noticed that around the two week mark, Gwen has started loosing her hair. When she was born she had a thick head of dark brown hair and her eyes were very dark (couldn't distinguish a color). Now, her eyes are dark blue and her hair is thinning. I know Christina lost her dark hair and grew back lighter hair, I wonder if it will be the same for Gwen. At three weeks old, you can now start to see much lighter hair underneith Gwen's dark hair.

Also around the two week mark, Gwen started to sleep less. I swear for the first two weeks she was literally only awake when I was nursing her. Even when feeding her, it was a struggle to keep her awake. Now she actually has periods of being awake. I love it when I'm holding her upright against my chest and she looks up at me. It is so adorable. She actually moves her head and holds it up very well for such a young baby. She is also doing great with the weight gain. She is now six pounds and one ounce! At this rate, on her due date she will be much heavier than Christina was when she was born.

Speaking of Christina, she seems to be managing the transition into this new family life very very well. So far she doesn't seem jealous at all which is a huge relief. Her regular day to day life hasn't changed much. Luckily, since Gwen sleeps a lot and doesn't demand that she sleep in my arms, Christina still has lots of time with me. I have been able to juggle the two of them pretty well. It gets chaotic first thing in the morning and right before CC's bedtime, but other than that I don't have any complaints.

The biggest change around here for me is that the housework has quadrupled since our little arrival. Dishes, laundry, garbage, and grocery shopping are forever on the to-do list. One load after the other, my laundry, CC's laundry, Gwen's laundry, towels, sheets, and then let's start all over! (Thank goodness Nik takes care of his own) Our kitchen garbage gets filled every day and that is without adding the other small garbage cans around the house like Gwen's for example. Gwen's garbage gets filled every day and she is just a tiny little baby. The floors are forever dirty and keeping toys put away is just a fruitless task.

Getting all of the housework done regularly isn't that big of a deal on weekdays though. Christina is still going to daycare, so it is just me and Gwen at home many days. I do the housework, feed her and myself. That is all the time I have during the day, but I guess that is really all that I need right now.

The doctor says Gwen shouldn't leave the house for two months since she is so tiny. So, that means I'm pretty much stuck inside as well. It has been really really hot lately, so I'm not too upset about it. At least I'm inside with the air conditioning. Christina, on the other hand, really hates to be inside. The weekends are a little difficult when Nik is at work. In fact, this passed weekend Christina threw a fit because she couldn't go out.

Ok, enough blabbling, here are some pictures . . .